Wednesday

While I'm rushing about doing some holiday preparations, I wanted to be sure to do two things. The first is to encourage you to enter the very cool Playful Promises lingerie giveaway that my friend, Treacle, is doing on her newly renamed blog. The giveaway runs through the 31st and you can enter as often as you like, so hop over to win some supa-pretty lingerie.

The second is to wish all of you a very happy holiday season and wonderful new year. My present to you is a new photo that I had taken a couple of weekends ago as part of a set for the new nylon website, which will be launching very soon. I'm very excited we'll soon all be able to share what's been under wraps and have lots of fun together. You may have wanted a tie, but they were out of them.

This has been a great year for me and the people I've met writing this blog have been a huge part of that. Whether you have become my friend, or you just read what I write, I'm grateful for the time and support you give to me and to nylon.

Friday

One of the most vocal advocates for fashion equality when it comes to hosiery, Eugene T.S. Wong, aka Hosiery Advocate has a new photo set on Flickr. He's looking quite dapper in a green suit with hosiery. His suit has shorts instead of pants which shows his opaque tights off nicely. I love it that Eugene is out there carrying the flag for men who want to wear hose. It takes guts to be public about wanting to do anything outside the social norms and when it becomes more socially acceptable for men to wear whatever they like on their legs, we will have men like Eugene to thank for it.

Looking good, Eugene!

If you're interested in seeing more masculine images of men wearing pantyhose (also known as mantyhose), check out the rest of Eugene's photo stream, or head over to the fabulous Pantyhose for Men site at the e-MAN-cipate project. Not only can you check out some great shots of mega-hot guys in tights, but if you have a web site or social media profile, you can pick up tools to help promote the mantyhose cause.

If you're a guy interested in getting his own pair of pantyhose designed specifically for the male anatomy, head over to the Activskin website, where you can find men's pantyhose, tights, stockings and socks that are thin enough to wear under your everyday clothing. Also, be sure to check out the great story of Activskin marketing director, Steve Newman's experience wearing hosiery (including the health benefits) and how he came to work in the field on his blog, The Nylon Gene.

If anyone knows of other resources for men interested in learning more about wearing hosiery or wants to share his personal experiences wearing mantyhose, I'd love to hear more in the comments area.

I love roller derby fashion and I also happen to enjoy Drew Barrymore quite a bit. I'm rooting for her directorial debut, Whip It, to be a big success, so thought I'd do my part to promote a film that looks good in its own right, but also features terrific leg looks and encourages young women to be true to themselves.

Thanks to everyone who dropped me a note checking in on me last week. Between a few family obligations and work picking up in earnest on Backseam, my new nylon project, it was impossible for my brain to string words together coherently enough to post on SV the last seven or eight days. Thanks for caring and thanks for being patient.

I'm working (more than) full-time now on creating Backseam - something I believe most people who read this blog will love and will hopefully find entertaining as well as incredibly useful and fun. I'm sorry to still be somewhat mysterious; my partner-in-crime, Nick Danger, has threatened to take away all my knee boots if I say too much.

We are, however, happy to give you all a sneak peek at the kinds of visuals that will inform Backseam, by sharing a Tumblr site we've built to blog images we feel capture the vibe of what Backseam, our new venture, will be all about.

Please note: this is not a preview of Backseam – we’re not ready to share that with you yet. With this Tumblr, we just wanted to give you a little taste of the kinds of visuals you’ll see on Backseam when it’s launched in early 2010.

And be warned: the circumspect Stocking Vixen has snapped her garters, so to speak, and this preview is absolutely not safe for work. If you are offended by visible lady parts, it's best not to click that link.

And some of the images we loved were so adult that we created a second blog, Backseam Extreme, for the really grown-up ones and I won't link to it here, but there's an easy-to-find-link on the Backseam Tumblr. The warning in the previous paragraph applies here in spades.

I've recognized in the last week that if I try to balance blogging regularly here with finishing Backseam that I am not going to do either thing well, so Stocking Vixen will have to be on semi-hiatus for the near future. Nick and I will be posting images and commentary over at the new Tumblrs as well as hammering away at building this new fun place for all of us and I'll still pop in at Twitter and on Facebook, so I'll be around. I'll miss being able to play here, but I truly believe you'll think it's worth it when Backseam is up and running.

I have proven completely unable to take a complete hiatus from Stocking Vixen in the past, so don't be surprised to see me drop in from time to time, but for the next couple of months it will be the exception to see posts here rather than the norm.

Thursday

Those of you who miss the postings of the illustrious Nick Danger from Fool for Your Stockings may keep up with his doings at his photoblog, entitled appropriately enough, Fool for Your Stockings. Be forewarned that Mr. Danger is enjoying being off his leash, as the photos above probably hint, and it's not quite as SFW as the original Fool.

One of my lovely readers asked on my last post if I knew where to buy the garter belt /waspie that Fernanda Tavares is wearing in the photo. I know that it's made by the French company Lejaby and that it's from their Elixir line, but unfortunately, it comes from the Fall/Winter 2007 line. Here's a photo of it in red and black (and it did also come in white). I'm coming up short in my efforts to find anyone still selling it online, but know I have some super-sleuths who read this blog who may be able to out-Sherlock me. If any of you know of somewhere where this belt can still be purchased, I'd be grateful to hear about it in the comments so we can pass the information along.

In the meantime, Faire Frou Frou has some beautiful out-of-the-ordinary garter belts, including the two above that are particularly beautiful. The Elle MacPherson one with polka dots on the right is similar to the Lejaby and is incredibly affordable at $55.

Another great place for you to buy beautiful garter belts or waspies (or any lingerie, actually) is Cazar, who carry many, many luxury lingerie brands and ship across Europe and the U.S. It's worth perusing the Cazar website just to see the high-resolution photos of hot chicks in their undies. Of course, there are many other retailers who carry gorgeous stuff, but those are two particular favorites of mine for super-special items.

Edited to Add: I really was remiss in not mentioning the fabulous Joanna's Wardrobe earlier as a place to get unique ways to hold up your stockings, especially is she is one of the exclusive retailers where you can buy Stockings and Romance lingerie, which I think is very cool stuff. I believe a lot of it is still sewn by hand.

Now that I'm mentioning things I should have earlier, in latex, no one makes more beautiful lingerie than Atsuko Kudo Couture and latex stockings look most awesome with a latex belt or underthingy attached.

Sigh, now I have a terrible urge to go shopping. How about you? Where do you like to shop for your really special lingerie, the things you keep wrapped in tissue until it's time to wear them? I look forward to hearing because I always learn new things from all of you.

Sunday

Hooray! I just picked up the October issue of Vogue and found them touting shorts with tights as a great look for Fall. They touched on something I mentioned last spring when I was all hopped up on the idea, saying that for many women shorts just feel more discreet than a miniskirt (they managed to say it without using the phrase, "lady parts," though).

Vogue recommends wearing lots of layers like thick sweaters and plaid flannel (which I swear I thought would never come back in style) and choosing wool shorts, like some of those above from Nanette Lepore. I have to say that anything that keeps the hosiery on view for the entire year is good with me.

Thursday

WARNING: NSFW VIDEO LINKS BELOW
This is the post where I admit that I have never sat down to watch Secretary. Considering my interests, this is somewhat bizarre. It's not because I have to be That One Person Who Hasn't Seen That One Movie, it's because of spontaneous human combustion and my James Spader issues. I'm not certain it would actually be a medically sound decision for me to watch a scene like this spanking scene or this one (BOTH NSFW) given that I've had James Spader "issues" since I was about 15. I actually have yet to make it through the first video and it's under six minutes long. James Spader is just that sexy, people.

A pair of comments below the first video really intrigued me:

madkor88 (4 days ago)
(Sadism has many aspects) thats true...but this is not love ...... not a true love ...... this is﻿ an erotic relationshipDimbnd (3 days ago)
What is true love, and why can't﻿ it be erotic?

I agree. Why on earth couldn't true love be based on shared erotic interests? Wouldn't the most complete romantic/emotional connection contain a strong sexual connection as well? Not necessarily a kink or fetish, but at least an earnest desire to connect physically?

Wednesday

I am so in love with Ellen Von Unwerth it's insane. I want her to come over to my house with models so we can dress them up and then make them play in the garden while we take photos of them. I definitely will one day buy a copy of her limited edition book, Revenge,which is a gorgeous photodocumentation (with a little text) of three young girls' S & M-tinged adventures under the hands of "The Baroness" at a country manor. I will do it as soon as I find that spare $300 I left laying around somewhere the other day. Until then I will content myself at the library and with the photos that are online (many of which are naughty enough I can't post them here, though they make me tingly. I've posted a couple at Tumbling Vixen and there are a couple under that first link, too). She is truly a magical photographer.

Okay, yeah, this is the best commercial ever made, and obviously proves the point that people in other countries don't have the same stick up their bums that many Americans seem to when it comes to sexual material in the mainstream media. This aired on broadcast television, including that red-hot thumb suck.

My computer has suddenly started running at the speed of molasses poured from a Louboutin boot, so I've had to clean up the hundreds of photos littering my desktop and have unearthed piles of gems I've yet to post here on SV. Over the weekend, I will try to get some of these beauties posted. See more photos...

Friday

Photos of the beautiful Tina Grant are usually the turf of Fool For Your Stockings's Nick Danger, but since he's on hiatus, I couldn't resist this one, as it's one of the prettiest of Tina I've ever seen.

Stick around for the highly awesome splits at the end. This is truly one of my favorite posts ever on Stocking Vixen. Yes, I'm not sure anyone is wearing hosiery, but I have posted about Beyonce's Single Ladies before and there are some great legs on display in this video, so I'm posting this, damnit! More videos...

I've been taking requests over at Facebook and one of my FB (and Tumblr and Twitter) buddies, Tiara, who writes the burlesque/arts/performance site, The Merch Girl, asked me to post photos of South Asian women in stockings. "No prob," I thought and off I went to find some great photos. Many hours later, I learned that it was going to be a much tougher task than I'd thought to find really pretty photos that weren't pornographic. I struck out completely finding good, sexy photos of Malaysian women, Sri Lankan women or Pakistani women that weren't porn, which I found frustrating. I understand that there are cultural reasons that make it unlikely for a women in those countries to pose for sexy pics, but it still surprised me to have such a tough time, especially since my searching turned up a reasonable quantity of explicit photos by women from those countries.

However, I love celebrating the positive and I am very pleased to share the photos I did find. I think they're beautiful, but do wish so much I had found more. If anyone reading this knows of great photos or has any in his/her personal stash, please do let me know, because I'd like to share more.

Nick Danger and Dahlia Delis have both let me know that this photo I posted a few days ago of Scarlett Johansson in fishnets and leather is from her guest turn as a Pussycat Doll, and that other celebs have taken a spin with the Dolls. I had to hunt down more pics since I loved the first one so much and found a YouTube video where an intrepid fan has pieced together a bunch of images from the show.

If you like the PD's, check out the photos a friend shot for me at the Britney Spears show in Dallas when the Pussycat Dolls opened her show. I think they're among the most spectacular shots on the whole site.

Wednesday

My friend Kevin sent me this photo and he and I both agree that it could illustrate lots of different stories. What do you think is going on in this picture? Tell me a story in the comments section below.

Oh I am so jealous of my friend Jim Linderman who runs the wonderful blog, Gals, Gams and Garters and who has happened into a stash of hand-painted photos by Rudolph Rossi, a member of the NYC Concorde Camera Club. In the 50's, those interested in shooting erotic photos of women (including Bettie Page, pictured above) could become members, pay $10 and gain access to models who would pose nude or bestockinged for them and were more daring because the photos were not for publication.

Mr. Rossi took his photos and then hand-tinted them to make them appear as though they were color shots. They are pretty damn cool looking if you ask me.

Jim has 100 or so of these photos and will be releasing them at his new blog, Camera Club Girls, over the ensuing months. I will be paying rapt attention. Please be advised the blog is NSFW in a 50's kind of way.

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About Me

I've kept this stockings blog since 2009 because I'm a complete nylon junkie. I spend hours every day shopping for, trying on and looking at photos of every type of legwear imaginable. I love painting my toes, ankle bracelets, and high heels. Did I mention the knee boots?